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Bealby Chapter 3 - The Wanderers part one · The H. G. Wells Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three, Part one of Bilby a Holiday. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Frank Duncan. Bilby a Holiday by H. G. Wells,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter three, Part one. The Wanderers never had the gracious
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  Speaker 1: eastward face of Schantz looked more beautiful than it did
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  Speaker 1: on the morning of the Lord Chancellor's visit. It glowed
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  Speaker 1: as translucent as amber, lit by flames. Its two towers
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  Speaker 1: were pillars of pale gold. It looked over its slopes
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  Speaker 1: and parapets upon a great valley of mist barred freshness,
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  Speaker 1: through which the distant river shone like a snake of light.
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  Speaker 1: The southwest facade was still in the shadow, and the
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  Speaker 1: ivy hung from it, darkly, greener than the greenest green.
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  Speaker 1: The stained glass windows of the old chap Apple reflected
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  Speaker 1: the sunrise as though lamps were burning inside. Along the terrace,
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  Speaker 1: a pensive peacock trailed his sheathed splendors through the dew.
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  Speaker 1: Amidst the ivy was a fuss of birds, and presently
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  Speaker 1: there was pushed out from amidst the ivy at the
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  Speaker 1: foot of the eastward tower, a little brownish buff thing
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  Speaker 1: that seemed as natural there as a squirrel or rabbit.
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  Speaker 1: It was a head, a ruffled human head. It remained
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  Speaker 1: still for a moment, contemplating the calm, spaciousness of terrace
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  Speaker 1: and garden and countryside. Then it emerged further and rotated
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  Speaker 1: and surveyed the house above it. Its expression was one
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  Speaker 1: of alert caution. Its natural freshness and innocence were a
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  Speaker 1: little marred by an enormous transverse smudge, a bar sinister
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  Speaker 1: of smut, and the elfin delicacy of the left ear
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  Speaker 1: was festooned with a cobweb, probably a genuine antique. It
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  Speaker 1: was the face of Bilby. He was considering the advisability
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  Speaker 1: of leaving Schantz for good. Presently his decision was made.
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  Speaker 1: His hands and shoulders appeared, following his head, and then
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  Speaker 1: a dusty but undamaged Bilby was running swiftly towards the
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  Speaker 1: corner of the shrubbery. He crouched, lest at any moment
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  Speaker 1: that pursuing pack of butlers should see him and give tongue.
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  Speaker 1: In another moment, he was hidden from the house altogether,
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  Speaker 1: and rustling his way through a thicket of budding redondre.
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  Speaker 1: After those dirty passages, the morning air was wonderfully sweet,
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  Speaker 1: but just a trifle hungry. Grazing deer saw Bilby fly
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  Speaker 1: across the park, stared at him for a time with
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  Speaker 1: great gentle, unintelligent eyes, and went on feeding. They saw
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  Speaker 1: him stop, ever, and again. He was snatching at mushrooms
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  Speaker 1: that he devoured forthwith. As he sped on on the
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  Speaker 1: edge of the beech woods, he paused and glanced back
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  Speaker 1: at Schanz. Then his eyes rested for a moment on
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  Speaker 1: the clump of trees, through which one saw a scrap
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  Speaker 1: of the head gardener's cottage, a bit of the garden wall.
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  Speaker 1: A physiognomist might have detected a certain lack of self
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  Speaker 1: confidence in Bilby's eyes, but his spirit was not to
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  Speaker 1: be quelled. Slowly, joylessly, perhaps, but with a grave determination.
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  Speaker 1: He raised his hand in the prehistoric gesture of the
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  Speaker 1: hand and face by which youth, since ever there was youth,
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  Speaker 1: has asserted the integrity of its soul against established and
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  Speaker 1: predominant things. Catch me, said Bilby. Bilby left Schantz about
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  Speaker 1: half past four in the morning. He went westward because
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  Speaker 1: he liked the company of his shadow, and was amused
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  Speaker 1: at first by its vast length. By half past eight
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  Speaker 1: he had covered ten miles, and he was rather bored
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  Speaker 1: by a shadow. He had eaten nine raw mushrooms, two
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  Speaker 1: green apples, and a quantity of unripe blackberries. None of
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  Speaker 1: these things seemed quite at home in him, and he
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  Speaker 1: had discovered himself to be wearing slippers. They were stout
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  Speaker 1: carpet slippers, but still they were slippers, and the road
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  Speaker 1: was telling on them. At the ninth mile, the left
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  Speaker 1: one began to give on the outer seam. He got
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  Speaker 1: over his style into a path that ran through the
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  Speaker 1: corner of a wood, and there he met a smell
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  Speaker 1: of frying bacon that turned his very soul to gastric juice.
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  Speaker 1: He stopped short and sniffed the air, and the air
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  Speaker 1: itself was sizzling. Oh, crikey, said Bilby, manifestly to the
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  Speaker 1: spirit of the world. This is a bit too strong.
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  Speaker 1: I wasn't thinking much before then he saw something bright
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  Speaker 1: and yellow and bulky just over the hedge. From this
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  Speaker 1: it was the sound of frying came. He went to
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  Speaker 1: the hedge, making no effort to conceal himself outside a
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  Speaker 1: great yellow caravan with dainty little windows, stood a largest
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  Speaker 1: dark woman in a deer stalker hat, a short brown skirt,
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  Speaker 1: a large white apron, and spatter dashes, among other things,
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  Speaker 1: frying bacon and potatoes in a frying pan. She was
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  Speaker 1: very red in the face, and the frying pan was
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  Speaker 1: spitting at her, as frying pans do at a timid cook.
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  Speaker 1: Quite mechanically, Bilby scrambled through the hedge and drew nearer
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  Speaker 1: this divine smell. The woman scrutinized him for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: and then, blinking and averting her face, went on with
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  Speaker 1: her cookery. Bilby came quite close to her and remained,
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  Speaker 1: noting the bits of potato that swam above in the pan,
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  Speaker 1: the jolly curling of the rashers, the dancing of the bubbles,
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  Speaker 1: the hemming splash and splutter of the happy fat. If
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  Speaker 1: it should ever fall to my lot to be cooked,
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  Speaker 1: may I be fried in potatoes and butter. May I
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  Speaker 1: be fried with potatoes and good butter made from the
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  Speaker 1: milk of the cow. God send I am spared boiling
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  Speaker 1: the prison of the pot the rattling lid, the evil
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  Speaker 1: darkness the water, I suppose, said the lady prodding with
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  Speaker 1: her fork at the bacon. I suppose you call yourself
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  Speaker 1: a boy? Yes, miss, said Bilby. Have you ever fried?
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  Speaker 1: I could miss like this? Better? Just lay hold of
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  Speaker 1: this handle, for it's scorching the skin off my face.
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  Speaker 1: I am. She seemed to think for a moment, and
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  Speaker 1: added entirely in silence. Bilby grasped that exquisite smell by
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  Speaker 1: the handle. He took the fork from her hand and
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  Speaker 1: put his hungry, eager nose over the seething mess. It
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  Speaker 1: wasn't only bacon. There were onions, onions, giving it an edge.
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  Speaker 1: It cut to the quicker appetite he would have wept
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  Speaker 1: with intensity of his sensations. A voice almost as delicious
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  Speaker 1: as the smell came out of the caravan window behind
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  Speaker 1: Bilby's head. Judy cried the voice here, I mean, it's here,
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  Speaker 1: I am, said the lady in the deerstalker. Judy, you
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  Speaker 1: didn't take my stockings for your own by any chance.
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  Speaker 1: The lady and the deerstalker gave way to a delighted horror.
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  Speaker 1: Sh Mavarnin, she cried. She was one of that large
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  Speaker 1: class of amiable women who are more irish than they
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  Speaker 1: need be there's a boy here. There was indeed an
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  Speaker 1: almost ubsquiciously industrious and obliging boy. An hour later he
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  Speaker 1: was no longer a boy, but the boy and three
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  Speaker 1: friendly women were regarding him with a merited approval. He
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  Speaker 1: had done the frying, renewed a wanting fire with remarkable
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  Speaker 1: skill and dispatch, reboiled a neglected kettle in the shortest
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  Speaker 1: possible time, laid almost without direction, a simple meal very exactly,
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  Speaker 1: set out the campstools, and cleaned the frying pan marvelously.
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  Speaker 1: Hardly had they taken their portions of that appetizing savoriness,
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  Speaker 1: then he had whipped off with that implement. God behind
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  Speaker 1: the caravan busied himself there and returned with the pan
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  Speaker 1: glittering bright himself, if possible, brighter one cheek indeed shone
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  Speaker 1: with an animated glow. But wasn't there some of the
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  Speaker 1: bacon and stuff left? Asked the lady in the deer stalker.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't think it was wanted, miss, said Bilby, so
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  Speaker 1: I cleared it up. He met understanding in her eye,
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  Speaker 1: he questioned her expression. Mayn't I wash up for you? Miss?
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  Speaker 1: He asked, To relieve the tension, He washed up swiftly
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  Speaker 1: and cleanly. He had never been able to wash up
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  Speaker 1: to mister Murgleson's satisfaction before, but now he did everything
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  Speaker 1: mister Murgleson had ever told him. He asked where to
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  Speaker 1: put the things away, and he put them away. Then
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  Speaker 1: he asked politely if there was anything else he could
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  Speaker 1: do for them. Questioned, he said, he liked doing things.
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  Speaker 1: You haven't, said the lady in the deer Stalker a
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  Speaker 1: taste for cleaning boots, Bilby declared. He had surely said.
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  Speaker 1: A voice that Bilby adored 'tis an angel from heaven.
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  Speaker 1: He had a taste for cleaning boots. This was an
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary thing for Bilby to say. But a great change
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  Speaker 1: had come to him in the last half hour. He
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  Speaker 1: was violently anxious to do things, any sort of things,
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  Speaker 1: servile things, for a particular person. He was in love.
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  Speaker 1: The owner of the beautiful voice had come out of
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  Speaker 1: the caravan. She had stood for a moment in the
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  Speaker 1: doorway before descending the steps to the ground, and the
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  Speaker 1: soul of Bilby had bowed down before her in instant submission.
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  Speaker 1: Never had he seen anything so lovely. Her straight, slender
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  Speaker 1: body was sheathed in a blue fair hair a little
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  Speaker 1: tinged with red, poured gloriously back from her broad forehead,
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  Speaker 1: and she had the sweetest eyes in the world. One
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  Speaker 1: hand lifted her dress from her feet, the other rested
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  Speaker 1: on the lintel of the caravan door. She looked at
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  Speaker 1: him and smiled. So for two years she looked and
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  Speaker 1: smiled across the footlights to the Bilby in mankind. She
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  Speaker 1: had smiled now on her entrance out of habit. She
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  Speaker 1: took the effect upon Bilby as a foregone conclusion. Then
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  Speaker 1: she had looked to make sure that everything was ready
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  Speaker 1: before she descended, how good it smells, Judy, she had said,
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  Speaker 1: I've had a helper, said the woman who wore spats.
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  Speaker 1: That time, the blue eyed lady had smiled at him
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  Speaker 1: quite definitely. The third member of the party had appeared unobserved.
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  Speaker 1: The irridations of the beautiful lady had obscured her. Bilby
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  Speaker 1: discovered her about. She was bareheaded, She wore a simple
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  Speaker 1: gray dress with a Norfolk jacket, and she had a
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  Speaker 1: pretty clear white profile under black hair. She answered to
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  Speaker 1: the name of Winnie. The beautiful lady was Madeline. They
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  Speaker 1: made little obscure jokes with each other and praised the morning. Ardently,
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  Speaker 1: this is the best place of all, said Madeleine, all night,
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  Speaker 1: said Winnie. Not a single mosquito. None of these three
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  Speaker 1: ladies made any attempt to conceal the sincerity of their
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  Speaker 1: hunger or their appreciation of Bilby's assistance. How good a
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  Speaker 1: thing is appreciation. Here he was doing, with joy and
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  Speaker 1: pride and eager excellence, the very services he had done
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  Speaker 1: so badly under the cuffings of Myrglesome and Thomas. And
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  Speaker 1: now Bilby, having been regarded with approval for some moments
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  Speaker 1: in disgust in tantalizing undertones, was called upon to explain himself. Boy,
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  Speaker 1: said the lady, and the deer stalker, who was evidently
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  Speaker 1: the leader, and still more evidently the spokeswoman of the party,
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  Speaker 1: come here, Yes, miss, he put down the boot he
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  Speaker 1: was cleaning on the caravan step in the first place.
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  Speaker 1: Know by these presents, I am a married woman, yes, miss,
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  Speaker 1: and miss is not a seemly mode of address for me, No, Miss,
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  Speaker 1: I mean Bilby hung for a moment, and by the
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  Speaker 1: happiest of accidents, a scrap of his instruction at Schantz
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  Speaker 1: came up in his mind. No, he said, your ladyship
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  Speaker 1: a great light shone on the spokeswoman's face. Not yet,
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  Speaker 1: my child, she said, not yet, he hasn't done his duty.
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  Speaker 1: By me, I am a simple mum. Bilby was intelligently silent.
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  Speaker 1: Say yes, Mom, Yes, Mom, said Bilby, and everybody laughed
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  Speaker 1: very agreeably. And now said the lady, taking pleasure in
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  Speaker 1: his words, know by these presents, by the bye, what
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  Speaker 1: is your name? Bilby scarcely hesitated Dick Maltraver's mom, he said,
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  Speaker 1: and almost added the dauntless daredevil of the diamond Field's Horse,
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  Speaker 1: which was the second title. Dick will do, said the lady,
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  Speaker 1: who was called Judy, and added, suddenly, and very amusingly,
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  Speaker 1: you may keep the rest. These were the sword of people.
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  Speaker 1: Bilby liked the right sort. Well, Dick, we want to know.
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  Speaker 1: Have you ever been in service? It was sudden, but
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  Speaker 1: Bilby equal to it only for a day or two, Miss,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, mum, just to be useful. Were you useful?
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  Speaker 1: Bilby tried to think whether he had been, and could
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  Speaker 1: recall nothing but the face of Thomas with the fork
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  Speaker 1: hanging from it. I did my best, mum, he said, impartially,
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  Speaker 1: And all that is over, yes, Mom, And you're at home.
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  Speaker 1: Again and out of employment. Yes, mom, do you live
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  Speaker 1: near here? No? Leastways not very far with your father stepfather. Mom,
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  Speaker 1: I'm a rphan. Well, how would you like to come
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  Speaker 1: with us for a few days and help with things?
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  Speaker 1: Seven and sixpence a week. Bilby's face was eloquent. Would
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  Speaker 1: your stepfather object? Bilby considered, I don't think he would.
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  Speaker 1: He said, you'd better go round and ask him. I suppose, yes,
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  Speaker 1: he said, and get a few things things, mom, collars
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  Speaker 1: and things. You needn't bring a great box for such
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  Speaker 1: a little while. Yes, mom, he hovered rather undecidedly. The
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  Speaker 1: better run along now our man and horse will be
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  Speaker 1: coming presently. We shan't be able to wait for you long.
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  Speaker 1: Bilby assumed a sudden briskness and departed at the gate
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  Speaker 1: of the field. He hesitated, almost imperceptibly, and then directed
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  Speaker 1: his face to the sabbath stillness of the village. Perplexity
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  Speaker 1: corrugated his features. The stepfather's permission presented no difficulties, but
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  Speaker 1: it was more difficult about the luggage. A voice called
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  Speaker 1: after him. Yes, mom, he said, attentive and hopeful. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: somehow they wouldn't want luggage, You'll want boots. You'll have
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  Speaker 1: to walk by the caravan. You know you'll want some
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  Speaker 1: good stout boots, all right, ma, he said, with a
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  Speaker 1: sorrowful break in his voice. He waited a few moments,
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  Speaker 1: but nothing more came. He went on very slowly. He
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  Speaker 1: had forgotten about the boots that defeated him. It is
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  Speaker 1: hard to be refused admission to Paradise for the want
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  Speaker 1: of a handbag and a pair of walking boots. Bilby
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  Speaker 1: was by no means certain that he was going back
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  Speaker 1: to the caravan. He wanted to do so, quite painfully,
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  Speaker 1: but he'd just look a fool going back without boots,
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  Speaker 1: and nothing on earth would reconcile him to the idea
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  Speaker 1: of looking a fool in the eyes of that beautiful
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  Speaker 1: woman in blue. Dick, he whispered to himself, despondently, Daredevil, Dick,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: a more miserable looking face you never set eyes on.
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  Speaker 1: It's all up with your little schemes, Dick, my boy.
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  Speaker 1: You must get a bag, and nothing on earth will
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  Speaker 1: get you a bag. He paid little heed to the
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  Speaker 1: village through which he wandered. He knew there were no
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  Speaker 1: bags there. Chance, rather than any volation of his own,
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  Speaker 1: guided him down a side path that led to the
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: nearly dry bed of a little rivulan, and there he
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  Speaker 1: sat down on some weedy grass under a group of willows.
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  Speaker 1: It was an untidy place that needed all the sunshine
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  Speaker 1: of the morning to be tolerable, one of those places
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  Speaker 1: where stinging nettles take heart and people throw old kettles,
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  Speaker 1: broken galloputs, jaded gravel, grass cuttings, rusty rubbish, old boots.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: For a time, Bilby's eyes rested on the objects with
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  Speaker 1: an entire lack of interest. Then he was reminded of
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  Speaker 1: his not so very remote childhood, when he had found
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  Speaker 1: an old boot and made it into a castle. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: he got up and walked across to the rubbish heap
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  Speaker 1: and surveyed its treasures with a quickened intelligence. He picked
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  Speaker 1: up a widowed boot and waited in his hand. He
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: dropped it abruptly, turned about and hurried back into the
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  Speaker 1: village street. He had ideas, too, two ideas, one for
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  Speaker 1: the luggage and one for the boots. If only he
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: could manage it, Hope beat his great pinions in the
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: heart of Bilby. Sunday, the shops were shut. Yes, that
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: was a fresh obstacle. He had forgotten that the public
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: house stood bashfully open, the shy, uninviting openness of Sunday
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: morning before closing time. But public houses alas at all
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: hours were forbidden to little boys. And besides, he wasn't
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: likely to get what he wanted in a public house.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: He wanted a shop, a general shop, And here before
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: him was the general shop and its door ajar. His
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: desire carried him over the threshold. The sabbatical shutters made
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: the place dark and cool, and the smell of bacon
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: and cheese and chandeliers, the very spirit of grocery, calm
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  Speaker 1: and unhurried, was cool and sabbatical, too, as if it
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: sat there for the day in its best clothes. And
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: a pleasant woman was talking over the counter to a
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: thin and worried one who carried a bundle. Their intercourse
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: had a flavor of emergency, and they both stopped abruptly
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: at the appearance of Bilby his desire. His craving was
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: now so great that it had altogether subdued the natural
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: weariness of his appearance. He looked meek, he looked good,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: He was swimming in propitiation and tender with respect. He
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: produced an effect of being much smaller. He had got
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: nice eyes, His movements were refined in his manners perfect.
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  Speaker 1: Not doing business today, my boy, said the pleasant woman.
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  Speaker 1: Oh please'm, he said from his heart. Sunday. You know,
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  Speaker 1: oh please, em, if you could just give me a
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: nuled sheet of paper. EM please, what for, asked the
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: pleasant woman, Just to wrap something up'm she reflected, and
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: natural goodness had its way with her. A nice bit,
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  Speaker 1: big bit, said the woman. Please. EM. Would you like
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  Speaker 1: it brown? Oh? Please? EM? And you got some string,
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  Speaker 1: only cotoney stuff, said Bilby, disemboweling a trouser pocket with knots.
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  Speaker 1: But i'd to say I can manage. You'd better have
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: a bit of good string with it, my dear, said
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the pleasant woman, whose generosity was now fairly on the run.
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  Speaker 1: Then you can do your parcel up in nice and tidy.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: The white horse was already in the shafts of the caravan,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: and William, a deaf and clumsy man of uncertain age
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: and a vast sharp nosiness, was lifting in the basket
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  Speaker 1: of breakfast gear and grumbling in undertones at the wickedness
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and unfairness of traveling on Sunday. When Bilby returned to
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: gladden the three waiting women, Ah said the inconspicuous lady.
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  Speaker 1: I knew he'd come. Look at his poor little precious parceval,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: said the actress, regarded as luggage. It was rather hitiful,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: A knobby brown paper parcel, about the size to be
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: perfectly frank of a tin can, two old boots and
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: some grass, very carefully folded and tied up and carried gingerly.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: But the lady and the deerstalker began and then paused. Dick,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: she said, as he came nearer, where's your boots? Oh? Please, mum,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: said the dauntless one. They was away being mended. My
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: stepfather thought perhaps you wouldn't mind if I didn't have boots,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: He said, perhaps I might be able to get some
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: more boots out of my salary. The lady and the
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: deerstalker looked alarmingly uncertain, and bilby controlled infinite distresses. Haven't
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: you got a mother, Dick, asked the beautiful voice. Suddenly
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: its owner abounded in such spasmodic curiosities. She last year,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: matricide is a painful business at any time. And just
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: as you see, in spite of every effort, you have
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: made the jolliest lark in the world world slipping out
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: over your reach, and the sweet voice so sorry for him,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: so sorry. Bilby suddenly veiled his face with his elbow
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: and gave way to honorable tears. A simultaneous desire to
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: make him happy, help him to forget his loss, possessed
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: three women. That'll be all right, Dick, said the lady,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: and the dear stoker, patting his shoulder. We'll get you
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: some boots tomorrow, and to day you must sit up
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: beside William and spare your feet. You'll have to go
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: to the ends with him. It's wonderful the elasticity of youth,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: said the inconspicuous lady. Five minutes later. To see that boy, now,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: you'd never imagine he had a sorrow in the world.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Now get up there, said the lady, who was the leader.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: We shall walk across the fields and join you later.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: You understand where you are to wait for us, William.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: She came nearer and shouted, you understand William. William nodded ambiguously,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: and to a fool, he said. The ladies departed. You'll
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: be all right, Dick, cried the actress kindly. He sat
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: up where he had been put, trying to look as
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: orphaned Dick, as possible after all that had occurred. End
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: of Chapter three, Part one,